Notes for version 1.0:

1205 downloads,
4 reviews,
0 screenshots,
2.8 rating

Sky Saw v1.0 is a map I made, trying to make a netmap in the style of a map I made in Tranquil Graves, Rapture. In my opinion, I completely failed, so this will probably see many nearly completely different versions (keeping little besides the physics). Despite the fact that this didn't turn out nearly how I wanted it to, it still is (for me and a few other people) quite an enjoyable map; just not nearly what I wanted it to be. The map is merged with physics, which mainly allow you to fly with the fists, give the shotguns more backblast and alters the fusion pistol.

1639 downloads,
0 reviews,
5 screenshots,
0.0 rating

The M1A1 netpack version 1.0 has finally been released coming just short of the goal of 10 maps, it features 8. All maps work with EMFH, while a couple also work for KOTH or KTMWTB. All maps are merged with M1 physics and are ready to be played. Here are the maps:

A Claymaud Patina - KingKidTofu

Scape Goat - KingKidTofu

Bio Mechanical - $lave

Bogyphobia - $lave

Kashmire - $lave

Sit On My Face - $lave

Fatal Attraction - $lave

Flaming Chisels - The Thug

You can check the read me for more details.

Thanks to The Thug and KingKidTofu for contributing maps, and I'd love to see more people contributing in future, enjoy the pack!

1369 downloads,
0 reviews,
3 screenshots,
0.0 rating

19 Reviews

I don't think I can write a review that will do justice to my appreciation of the effort and care WB has put into this pack. While WB's previous packs have always shown a penchant for extreme detailing, these maps combine that intricacy with a new level creativity and grandness. The open spaces in this pack lend extremely well to net play.

I see a lot of as-of-yet untapped potential with the M2 and (especially) M1 texture sets, but this is far beyond an adequate proof of concept. Perhaps my only complaint is that in Captain Confidence, there were a few spots (narrow ledges or awkward details) where I felt as though the architecture could have been better tailored to the texture set chosen. Perhaps that was only a matter of personal taste, though.

My biggest problem with this map is that it's pretty much entirely symmetrical, which is boring. Some of the more impressive details/architecture are overshadowed by how cluttered most of the geometry is, which is accented by the incohesive texturing. Even though the map is supposed to be divided into four entirely separate areas, the texturing within each area isn't strong enough to pull this off. The weapon placement was also very haphazard and distracting. The lighting on the other hand was done fairly well.

I think you could be a fairly promising mapper, but this map isn't really worth keeping. If you want to make a map around this sort of theme again, don't make it so symmetrical.

Immediately after downloading the pack I played through the majority of the maps on the metaserver. I liked this pack when I first reviewed it, and I like it more now.

As far as I can tell all the issues with ammo/weapons were fixed, although the majority of the games I played were duels so I'm not sure if there is enough ammo for larger groups. The script you used to start each player with an AR and SMG, which helps.

None of the maps are overly detailed, but where they do use more detail they use it very well. Almost all the maps are able to maintain visual interest for me through the general geometry and good use of shading and texturing. The one map I still find relatively bland is Lotus Blossoms & Water Lilies, though there is also a specific section in Wildest Hour of Tragedy which is a bit of an eyesore. For the most part each of the texture sets was used just how it should be, though you are notably stronger with the jjaro set.

I have never encountered any problems with the flow, and enjoyed playing through each of the maps. Where detail is used it is kept out of the way of the player, and at no point did any of the maps feel cluttered.

My only problem with the pack now is that there isn't quite enough variation in the maps. Although some are stronger than others, many feel like variations of the same map.

But it isn't ready yet. Although there is some amazing architecture and level design here, there are too many things which hold it back.

First of all, the weapon/ammo availability and placement. The beginning of the first level almost made me give up on this scenario altogether; there were simply too many enemies in too tight an area to fight with your pistol and fist. Throughout the first level at least, I found that having to fight the
amount of monsters there were with only my fists and pistols to be annoying.

The second issue with this scenario is the lighting. There are many areas which could be improved drastically if you just applied more differential lighting. Most of the scenario is simply too bright; in most levels there are only "dim" and "bright" areas, with very few (possibly no) dark areas. To clarify, I generally consider lights 0 - 8/9 to be "bright", 9/10 - 14 to be "dim" and 15 through 20 to be "dark". The texturing generally isn't (in my opinion) too bed, with the exception of the second level. The second level is largely textured poorly and far too bright. An example of a level which could be spectacular of better lighting was used is Atom Heart Mother (I enjoyed the Pink Floyd reference). I'd make the passages between areas substantially darker, and add more differential shading to most areas (using both bright/dim and dark lighting together in areas). This level seemed to be inspired by Aye Mak (although I could be wrong) and I'd suggest looking at Aye Mak for examples of good lighting, you can also check out Marathon: Rubicon which (I thought) had generally good lighting.

The third issue was the monster placement. There are simply too many areas where you have to fight too many monsters in too tight a place. Every level seems to have this problem; you are often not prepared for the amount of monsters and/or have no room to dodge; this is amplified (again, especially in the first level) by the lack of appropriate weapons.

That said, I thought the overall level designs (with a few exceptions, most notably the beginning of level 1 and most of level 2) were excellent; rivaling (again, in my opinion) some of the best scenarios/conversions out there. I also happen to be a huge fan of Marathon: Infinity's levels (those which didn't suck), and a lot of these levels brought to me the feeling of marathon Infinity's better levels.

I also thought your terminals were excellently written, no complaints there (although I've never been a fan of Robert Blake in any scenario).

I really think this deserves 2.5 stars at the moment, but simply by fixing the existing levels in terms of monsters, weapons, lighting could easily bring it up to a 4 star scenario, and by fixing up all of the better levels (mainly minor things) it could become a 5 star scenario; but the first and second level would have to be re-done, and the pfhor levels could be better.

I greatly look forward to seeing this scenario "fixed up", I really enjoy some of the designs/architecture, even if the levels themselves need a lot of work in other aspects.

One final note, is that playing co op, neither Jim nor I could find any way of getting past the immediate post-initial area without rocket jumping. We were able to get to the platform leading out of the lava to the building, and found one switch, but our guess was that one of the inactive terminals was supposed to teleport us to the next area. I can't really comment on that too much though, as with the addition of terminals it likely would have been far more clear.

If you'd like to run through these levels with me co op for more specific advice/examples, I'm fully willing. You can e-mail me at lukastimmerman@hotmail.com or contact me over AIM (animalsfloyd) if you're interested.

This is, as Treellama has said, yet another must have netpack. All the maps are balanced, good looking (although some more so than others) and flow well.

From the first release this has been a steady 5 star pack. The complex architecture is nicely balanced with fast, balanced gameplay, and although the architecture does inevitably damage the flow slightly in some areas, it isn't intrusive enough to damage the gameplay or detract from the overall quality of the maps; the flow still rivals (and often beats) that of many of the previous "Must Have" netpacks.

I think we all owe a huge thank you to RyokoTK, our favourite community ruiner.

Although this is by no means a bad pack, it doesn't quite live up to the standards Treellama set with his previous pack, Popems. These are by no means bad maps, but where Popems is full of fun, impressive maps, this pack falls short.

I have always liked Zora's Domain a lot, and I like Velora Pass (with the exception of some of the texturing), but I was not very impressed by Egyptian Temple. Although Egytian Temple has some good cover due to the pillars making the bullet-based gameplay interesting, the map quickly started to feel bland and repetitive to me, a downfall of the Egyptian style and look.

That put aside, I'm interested to see what comes of this pack, and I certainly think it has the potential to reach (if not top) the status of Popems with a bit more consistency quality wise.

As expected, Ryoko has come out with yet another solid pack. Although small, these levels are quite fun, and the merged physics are an extra bonus. The physics don't change enough to deteriorate gameplay at all, but work quite well with the maps they are paired with. Although these are overall not Ryoko's most impressive maps, I still recommend that any host downloads this small pack.

This is definitely a good pack, but it isn't consistent throughout. All the maps, in my experience, have enough ammo, and all the ones I've played are quite fun, but there are some.. issues that keep me from giving this 5 stars. Waterloo Carnage is a great map, it looks nice, has enough weapons and ammo and flows well. Punk Plaza still looks fairly nice, not as nice as waterloo, but it still flows well, has enough ammo, is balanced etc. Space Port Alpha can also be great fun, and Avoiding the Light is a nice map, despite feeling slightly cramped. Imperial Uranus is another good map, although it isn't completely solid throughout, some of the texturing and lighting could be touched up a bit, in my opinion. All the maps I've listed, however, are very original and fun maps. The last two maps, however, I can't say are at the same level. The use of the Jjaro set can be quite spotty, and doesn't always look terribly nice. These two maps maps still flow well enough and have enough ammo, but they are lacking visually.

That said, good job, and I hope to see you making more maps at some point!

I really can't stop loving this map. I especially lovingly recommend you play it on LMOTH but also try every other gametype. I think it works with ball type too. It's really really fun, great for strategy and gametypes. You should really play this map a lot, forever and ever. Thank you for this wonderful map.

Great job, there are some really nice maps in here! Although it is not at a Paradise Lost level, I will definitely host this pack! Keep up the good work, even though many of these maps are very good, it could still use some polishing in my opinion.

EDIT: I have now played these netmaps online, before I had only ran through solo. I would give this pack 3 and a half stars, it is good but needs work in a couple specific areas before it can be really enjoyed.

First, the maps all need more weapons and ammo, and both need to be placed better. many times I was left running around weaponless, as were most people I was playing with, try and make more weapons closer to spawn locations, a player should always be able to get a weapon and ammo within 3 seconds and should rarely run out of ammo.

Second, a couple maps, although I love the designs and architecture, had disrupted flow and/or balance. One map features a large underwater area with hallways, and a pool which you can exit that area by and which has a 2X energy canister in it. 2X health is usually a bad idea, as are underwater areas. I love that maps layout and it looks great, but it is simply too big and the underwater part kind of ruins it as well. I would take out the water, and replace the float up exits with platforms, and also trim down the size of that map. A couple other maps simply had hallways which felt to tight and/or had 90 degree turns. You should probably never have a 90 degree turn in a hallway less than 2, maybe one and a half WU's wide, and for hallways shorter rounding the corners is a good way of fixing that problem. I also think one level was set to rebellion, which is a bad idea.

I love the layout of these maps, but they do need work before almost any of them could be hosted on net. If I didn't really like these maps and think they had great potential, I wouldn't be giving you this much advice, please understand that it is purely constructive criticism, I really would like to see these maps reach their full potential!!